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nagantino

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Ive just finished watching The Terror, a TV Mini series. It's based on the ill fated Franklin Expedition to find the Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the frozen arctic. It's set in 1845/46 and is a fictional account of what might have happened to them. They were never seen again. The marines on board the 2 ships carry flintlock muskets but also what look like short, hammered shotguns. Are the shotguns percussion? Why could the muskets not be fired that way? The image shows the musket, can't find one of the shotguns used.
 

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Percussion did exist in that time period and had for over 10 years, but given that a number of CS soldiers showed up for the war carrying Flintlock smoothbore muskets in 1861, sometimes they just use what they have and can maintain.

The flint muskets were probably still used by the Marines at that time. I don't know what they'd be, late model Brown Bess?
 
The Terror is a great show that I would recommend to all. The production seems to have been rigorously researched and is very authentic in its attention to detail. The whole British expedition was the most modern and best equipped expedition the British navy had ever launched. Just curious about the firearms.
 
Sounds like a great watch! Where can you find it? Ran a search on cable in my area and came up empty! If anyone has any info I’d appreciate it. Thanks, Art
 
I watched it on Sky Atlantic. Not sure about that in the USA. I've read quiet a bit about it before the TV show though. The wrecks of the 2 ships, the Terror and the Erebus were found recently by a Canadian expedition. One of the reasons put forward for their demise was the high lead content found in a body buried on Beechy island before they disappeared. Crikey .....talking about lead poisoning on a Front Stuffer Forum.
 
Sorry, I didn't finish my story. The lead was said to come from the large amounts of tinned food that the expedition carried, but it's just a theory.
 
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